Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- The Kansas State University College of Engineering will honor 11 alumni for professional career accomplishment during the first 20 years following their graduation. The honorees will be recognized at ceremonies on campus Saturday, April 6.

Recipients of the college's Professional Progress Award were nominated by their respective department heads and confirmed by John English, dean of engineering. The honorees are:

* Jon Halbgewachs, Ellsworth, a 1997 graduate in civil engineering. He is a senior vice president and the Kansas operations manager for Kirkham Michael and Associates Inc. in Ellsworth. In addition to his office managerial duties, he manages road, bridge, airport, water and sewer design projects; bridge and structure inspections; construction services; and various planning projects across Kansas. Halbgewachs is a licensed professional engineer in Kansas and Nebraska, and is a member of the American Council for Engineering Companies, National Society for Professional Engineers, Kansas Society of Professional Engineers, American Public Works Society and the K-State Alumni Association.

* Natalie Gosch, Mulvane, a 1998 graduate in chemical engineering. Gosch is a manager at a Cargill flour milling facility, where she oversees shipping of 1 million pounds of food daily directly to grocery stores and animal food applications, while employing 70 skilled teammates and managing a $10 million annual budget. She joined Cargill after graduation and has worked in process engineering and production management her entire career. This has presented her with opportunities in both urban and rural areas of the United States and around the world, including Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, China, Peru and Argentina. She is a graduate of the Kansas Agriculture Rural Leaders program, founding board member and treasurer of the Mulvane Education Foundation, and a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Board at Kansas State University.

* John Miller, Olathe, a 1994 graduate in computer engineering. He is the chief technology officer at Accelerated Vision, Overland Park, where he also manages engineering and information technology. Miller heads up technology direction and selection, manages hardware and software development, and procures the necessary information technology infrastructure for the company. During his career he has been given several awards for outstanding performance and has grown from an engineer into an experienced executive while serving in several management positions. Miller has led solution, delivery and support throughout his career, holds one patent and has several patents currently under consideration.

* Kevin Boehringer, Overland Park, a 1993 graduate in architectural engineering. He is an owner/principal of BSE Structural Engineers in Lenexa, a full-service structural engineering firm professionally registered in 47 states. The company provides design nationwide in a variety of structures, including commercial buildings, health care, schools, restaurants, religious, industrial, aquatics and water slides. Boehringer is a registered professional engineer in 33 states, Washington, D.C., and three Canadian provinces. He is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, American Concrete Institute, American Institute of Steel Construction, Structural Engineering Association of Kansas and Missouri, National Society of Professional Engineers and Kansas Society of Professional Engineers. At Kansas State University, he has been a presenter for the Architectural Engineering Seminar, Architectural Engineering Institute Student Conference and Student Chapter of the Structural Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri.

* Parker Young, Overland Park, a 1994 graduate in construction science and management. He is a partner with Straub Construction Co., serving as executive vice president and COO, having previously held positions as superintendent, project manager and vice president of operations. His primary responsibilities include general oversight of processes and procedures in project management, estimating, accounting, human resources and all aspects of field operations. Young has been actively involved in the local chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, previously serving as board chairman and was recognized with the 2012 Arthur C. Waugh Keystone Award. He has been honored by Ingram's magazine as one of its "40 under 40" and the K.C. Business magazine as a "Rising Star." Young is currently chairman of the board for City Vision, a not-for-profit urban development organization.

* Cory Downing, Salina, a 1993 graduate in mechanical engineering and a 1997 master's graduate in industrial engineering management. He is vice president-engineering for Salina Vortex Corp., a manufacturer of slide gates and diverters for material handling systems. Along with partnering with the executive team to set the company's strategic direction, he oversees the product development and operations teams, which provide engineered solutions to their customers. Downing joined Salina Vortex as a design engineer and has held positions as engineering operations manager and director of engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Society of Mining Engineers and serves on the industrial advisory board of mechanical engineering technology at Kansas State University.

* Ryan McGuire, Bentonville, Ark., a 1992 graduate in industrial engineering. He currently serves as vice president of pricing at J.B. Hunt Transport Inc., based in Lowell, Ark. McGuire joined the company in 2001 and is responsible for network design, economic analysis and pricing for the truckload division, a $470 million segment of the company. Most recently, McGuire served on the advisory council for the department of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Kansas State University.

* Mahesh Bommareddy, San Jose, Calif., a 1993 master's graduate in computer science. He is currently a director of product management and marketing at Cisco, where he leads the creation and delivery of a broad range of mobility solutions for enterprise customers. He has also been product management lead for Cisco's Borderless Networks technologies, playing a key role in establishing the Borderless Networks architecture. Earlier, as part of Cisco's service provider group, he led the product management team for the entire voice portfolio. While at Cisco, Bommareddy has introduced several successful new products and solutions to the market. He is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and holds a U.S patent in the area of telecommunications.

* Reggie Schoen, Johnston, Iowa, a 1995 graduate in mechanical engineering. He is a refinery superintendent, leading facility plant operations for Cargill's dressings, sauces and oils vegetable oil refinery in Des Moines, Iowa. His responsibilities include safety, environment, food safety, customer solutions, production, quality, maintenance and utilities, capital planning and execution, and personnel practices for 42 team members. For the past 17 years, Schoen has worked for Cargill in various plant operations supervisory roles in reliability and production, and as a department superintendent and facility leader across five locations in Iowa and Kansas.

* Jennifer Vines, Houston, Texas, a 2000 graduate in biological and agricultural engineering. She is currently the Middle East project services area supervisor for the ExxonMobil Development Co. in Houston, where she provides management oversight for projects in Qatar and United Arab Emirates, totaling an investment of approximately $20 billion. Vines has been with ExxonMobil since 2000, holding a variety of engineering positions in both production and development divisions, and providing management support for several different projects in West Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, California, Nigeria and Angola. She has also served as an ExxonMobil recruiter at Kansas State University's College of Engineering for the past 12 years and has assisted in the hiring of around 130 engineering graduates from the university.

* Tak-Kei Chan, Hong Kong, a 1990 bachelor's graduate and 1992 master's graduate in electrical engineering. He is the senior vice president and general manager for global assembly and test operations at International Rectifier, a pioneer and world leader in advanced power management technology. In this role, Chan manages a global manufacturing organization of more than 1800 employees in six different countries, with an annual budget of more than $200 million. He began his career with International Rectifier in California and is now located in Singapore.